I was talking to someone this week who is both an immigrant and deals with the public. In the run up to the American election, she was bombarded with racist comments and slurs about immigrants, all in the name of Trump.

For many, it is now fashionable to be against immigration or to be xenophobic. First up was the Brexit vote. The reason that former Prime Minister David Cameron allowed for a referendum on the E.U. was that he could not imagine that England would vote against destroying itself economically. He was wrong. England hated the E.U.’s immigration policy so much they would rather hurt themselves economically than accept freedom of movement of people in Europe.

On Tuesday night, those that watched live remotes from all over the United States heard voters say, “We have to take back America!” From who? Left unsaid was that there was a black President in office. The Jewish Anti-Defamation League saw so much anti Semitic imagery in one of Trump’s last ads, they condemned it publicly. Voters didn’t seem to care.

As much as we like to say that this is an American or European issue, Conservative MP and leadership candidate Kellie Leitch was proudly proclaiming her desire to share the message of Donald Trump and “Canadian values” the morning after the election. This from a politician that used the be the Minister for the Status of Women in Canada.

Trump’s rise came just four years after people were saying that America had entered a new post race age where race didn’t matter. They were wrong.

Leitch is campaigning on a platform a year after the phrase “barbaric cultural practices” had earned scorn and was rejected by Canadian voters in the last federal election. Why? Because they know those feelings of racism and fear of others are still part of the Canadian fabric.

Step back to January 2015 when former Mayor Don Atchison told CBC in an interview that Saskatoon was eons ahead of Winnipeg in terms of racism. Atchison was criticized and mocked for the word choice. What he was getting at was that Saskatoon has worked really hard in making our city a more inclusive place to live for minorities. He was right.

Saskatoon has changed over the last several years. In some parts of the city you are as likely to see a game of cricket being played on a warm summer night as you are to find baseball.

Many of you have heard the buzz that CHEP Good Food Inc. has teamed up with the Open Door Society to present a new monthly cooking class at Station 20 West. Newcomers to Canada are the teachers and they are offering Syrian, Colombian, Chinese and Peruvian cooking classes in the months to come.

Statistically, we are the second and often permanent home of immigrants coming to Canada. After immigrating to larger Canadian centres, they are finding their way to Saskatoon in part because of the economy but also because they feel welcome here.

When combatting racism or bigotry, you can make progress but you never completely win. You have to keep fighting and striving for improvements because of fear and hatred in ignorant human beings will be easily exploited for cheap political gain by politicians with no principles or moral compass with their only goal being power for themselves.

How do we combat it? By taking a stance against it every time we hear it. We speak out against it at every level from coffee row all the way up every time we vote. We demand our politicians to do the same. For those of you who think it’s impossible, look no further to the passionate defence of immigration from Michael Chong and Deepak Obhrai at the Conservative Party debate in Saskatoon last Wednesday.

It’s sad that we have to have these discussions but if we want to keep the progress that we have made as a country and city, we can’t stop or we risk losing the progress we fought so hard to make.

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